Stocking and the manufacture thereof



July 26, 1927.

R. W. SCOTT STOCKING AND THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed Jan. 14. 1925 IN VEN TOR. BabertWScaZt Qyhzls atwrne ys Patented July 26, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,637,244 PATENT OFFICE.

noun W. BOOM, OI ml, NEW YORK, ABEIIGI'OB TO SCOTT m WILLIAIB, DIG, OI m YORK, I. 1., A CORPORATION 01' HASQAOEUBE'I'TB.

I'IOOIIIG m In IANUII'AOTUBI THEREOF.

Application fled January My invention relates to seamless stockings such as are usually produced upon circular knitting machines and are provided with seamlm heels and toes, the object of my in- 5 vention bei to produce a more acceptable of I is type than those now made and also to efiect economy in such production, especially when a portion of the stocking is reinforced, or, as it is usually termed,

lo spliced by feeding an extra yarn or yarns to certain of the needles, as, for instance, to those emplo ed in knitting the rear portion of the e, the sole and the toe ofthe stoc L In the accompan ing drawin Figure 1 isa si e view of t e foot and ankle portions of a stocking produced in accordance with m invention, and

Fi re 2 is a 'agram of the circle of 0 need es upon which the stocking is knitted.

The ordinary method of knitting a seemless stocking upon a circular knitting machine is to start the knitting upon all of the needlesof the machine and to reduce tubular web, by round-and-round itting u 11 said needles, until the point is reache at which the heel is to be produced, whereupon that half of the circle ofneedles of the machine which corresponds to the instep portion ,ofthe web is thrown out of action but retaining their loops, and to-and-fro knitting is conducted upon the remaining needles, with alternate narrowing and wi enin'g of the web, the effect bein to produce upon the rear. half of the tubu ar leg web a pocket having on each side tapered webs united on the diagonal line :0 extending from the upper corner of the pocket down towards the center of the back of the same.

40 The heel pocket being completed, the instep half of the.needles are restored tion again and round-and-round knitting is resumed for the production of the foot web of the stocking, and upon the completion of a said foot web a seamles'toe pocket is formed u n the front end of the same by a method 0 knitting similar to that resorted to for the production of the heel, the terminal stitches around the mouth of this toe pocket being then united to the terminal stitches at the frontend of the instep web of the foot in order to close the toe and complete the stocklincaseitisdesiredtostr the rear of the angle,

hen or ree heel, the

to ac-' 14, 1925. Serial Io. 2,407.

sole and the toe portions of the stocking one or more reinforcin yarns are sup lied to that half of the needles employed in ittin these portions, or said needlesare supplie with a heavier arn than that supplied to the needles which knit. the instep'portion of the foot and ankle webs of the stocking.

In the knittin of womens fine gage stockings, however, t e heel pocket formed upon the knitted tube inthe manner described, isv apt to be too large. It is only b keeping the quantit of am down close to t e danger point and itting the heel inordinately stifi that even a fair appearing stocking can be made in these fine gages.

In carrying out my invention, I knit a much smaller heel than usual by using for the production of said heel'considerably less than one-half of the circle of needles of the cylinder and by restricting the to-and-fro knitting for the production of the heel to this limited number of needles.

The needles of the machine are, as shown in Fig. 2, divided into three sets 2, 3 and 4, the needles 2 extending around one half of the cylinder, the needles 4' comprising those within restricted se ment on the other half of the cylinder, an the needles 3 comprising those between the needles 2 and 4 at each side of the cylinder. To facilitate ma ni ulation 'of these needles the are preferab y provided withbutts of di erent length, the needles 4 having low butts, the needles 2 having high butts, and .the needles 3 having butts of intermediate length.

When the tubular leg web of the stocking has been produced byround-and round knitting upon all of the needles up to the point at which the heel is to be formed the needles, 2 and 3 are put out of action and the heel is then formed in the usual way by to-andfro knitting and alternate narrowin and widening upon the needles 4, the line of union or suture between the webs being correspondingly shortened. Upon the comple tion of the heel all of the needles are rendered active again and round-and-round knitting is resorted to for the production of the tubular foot web, and after the completion of the same the needles 2 are put out of action, the needles 3 and 4: around the other half of the machine bein permitted to remain in action and to-andro knitting with alternate narro and widening of the web being conduc upon this half of the needles'for the formation of the toe pocket.

When the web is reinforced or spliced in the rear portion of the ankle, the heel and the sole portion of the foot, the reinforcing yarn, during the knitting of these ortions, may be applied only to the nee es 4, or may extend one or a few needles beyond the corner of the heel joint into the instep portion, as is usual, in order to strengthen said corner, theoutline of the reinforced portions of the sole and ankle being re resented by the dotted lines d in Fig. 1 an the outline of the heel by the dotted lines f.

The spliced wales of the sole thus substantially correspond in number to the number of wales presented at the front half of the heel, and the spliced wales at the rear half ofthe ankle substantially correspond to the number of wales presented at the top of the heel.

I am thus enabled to produce the desired small heel on the stocking, and .the spliced area in the sole does not rise so hi h as to be exposed above the top of a low s cc, nor does it extend so far forward on each side of the ankle as to be objectionable, neither does the top of the heel show above a low sho or the point extend forward far enough to e objectionable.

The toe of the ,stocking however is knit on half the circle of needles as usual and spliced accordingly, as indicated in the drawing, so that this spliced toe is larger than the spliced heel.

It will be evident that, owing to the lesser number of needles than usual employed in knitting the spliced portions of my stocking, a lesser amount of splicin yarn than usual will be required and the resulting economy is not to be ignored.

Moreover, the ordinary stocking for womens wear, as produced by a circular knitting machine, is wider than it should be in the foot portion in order that it shall be sufiiciently wide in the le portion, and the stockings are subsequentIy stretched upon a shapin and drying form to aid in imparting the esired swell to the calf portion of the leg. This form also measurably contracts the diameter of the foot by stretching the same lengthwise, but even so, the foot portion of the finished stocking is wider than that of a standard full fashioned stocking.

When the stocking is provided with a small heel and contracted spliced area in accordance with my invention, the whole foot portion is narrower than when made the usual manner, because in my improved stocking the area made of reinforced stitches,-which each necessarily occupies a greater space than a corresponding plain stitch-is less than usual. Where I use the word reinforced, I mean either adding a yarn or yarns or changing to a heavier What I claim is:

1. A seamless stockin having a reinforced heel pocket knit narrowed and widened with the wales of the narrowed and widened sections occupyin less than one half the circumference of t e stocking tube at the ankle.

2. The modeherein described of knitting a stocking upon a circular knittin machine, said mode consisting in first pro ucing the leg portion of the stocking by round-andround knitting upon all of the needles then putting out of action needles aroun one half of the machine and also a grou of needles adjoining the same at each si e of the machine, then producing the heel by toand-froknitting and narrowing and widening upon the remaining restricted segment of needles, then reintroducing the needles originally put out of action and producing the foot web by round-and-round knitting.

3. The mode herein described of knitting a stocking upon a circular knittin machine, said mo e consisting in first producing the leg portion of the stocking by round-andround knitting upon all of the needles, tlien utting out of action needles around one alf of the machine and also a rou of needles adjoining the same at eac si e of the machine, then producing the heel by toand-fro knitting and narrowing and widening upon the remaining restricted segment of needles, then reintroducing the needles originally put out of action and producing the foot web by round-and-round knitting, then putting out of action needles around one half of the machine as before, and then producing the toe by to-and-fro knitting and narrowing and widening upon the remaining half of the needles.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ROBERT W. SCOTT. 

